Skip the bland boxed stuffing mix and make these juicy sausage stuffing balls instead. They’re loaded with dried cranberries, pecans, and sage for a lovely festive twist and are super easy to prep ahead of time (up to 3 days!) Perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and they make fab party bites.
I love serving stuffing as little meatballs on the side of a spread. It means they’re already portioned, and never run the risk of drying out after being in the oven for a long time inside a roasted chicken or turkey.
They couldn’t be easier:
- Just mix your favorite sausage meat with festive cranberries and pecans, fresh breadcrumbs, herbs, and an egg to bind everything together.
- They’re juicy, loaded with flavor, and a wonderful side to enjoy over the holiday season.
- And if you have any leftovers, you can throw them into this easy baked celebration rice or use them in these festive smash tacos.
I also love making these as little party snacks – load them all up on a big serving plate and serve them with cranberry sauce or spicy gochujang aioli on the side for a fun, festive bite.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Sausages. Use your favorite sausages or ground sausage meat here – ideally a good-quality, free-range pork sausage.
- Dried cranberries. These little pops of sweetness are delicious and festive, but you could swap them for another dried fruit. I also like using apricots.
- Pecans. Similarly, the pecans work well with the cranberries, but you could swap them for another nut – pistachios, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or cashews would work too.
- Bread. We’re using fresh bread here – you can either chop the slices up finely or pop them into a food processor to blitz. Don’t worry if there are some chunkier pieces. I like using sourdough, but any soft bread will do (this no-knead rosemary parmesan bread is excellent)
- Za’atar. I love this mix of sumac, dried oregano, sesame seeds, and salt, but you could swap this for dried thyme or oregano if you like.
- Egg. This is key for binding the stuffing balls; without it, they’ll be dry and fall apart.
- Parsley. Flat-leaf parsley is best. I also love to throw in fresh sage for an extra festive twist.
How to Make Stuffing Balls
- Slice through the sausage skin and squeeze the meat into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the other ingredients, then mix well. It’s easiest to do this with your hands, so you can pop on some gloves and get your hands in there.
- Scoop up about 1 tablespoon of the stuffing mix and roll it into a ball in your hands. Place on a tray and repeat with the rest of the mixture.
- Bake or air fry the stuffing balls until gorgeously golden.
- Arrange on a serving platter, then serve with your favorite sauce on the side if you like!
Kate’s Prep Ahead Tip
You can form the stuffing balls 3 days in advance, then pop them into the fridge and bake them when you’re ready.
Stuffing Balls FAQs
You can use any other nut you like – hazelnuts, almonds, cashews, walnuts, or pistachios are great too. Or for a nut-free version, use pumpkin (pepita) seeds.
I love using chopped dried apricots in these balls in place of cranberries – you could really use any dried fruit you like.
Yes! That’s what’s great about these. You can make them up to 3 days ahead of time, then just cook them when you’re ready.
Once cooked, they’ll keep for at least 3 days stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
Like this recipe? Complete your festive spread with these ideas
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Stuffing Balls with Cranberries and Pecans
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 20 balls 1x
Description
Skip the bland boxed stuffing mix and make these juicy sausage stuffing balls instead. They’re loaded with dried cranberries, pecans, and sage for a lovely festive twist and are super easy to prep ahead of time (up to 3 days!) Perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and they make fab party bites.
Serve with your favorite dipping sauce (I love this herby green tahini sauce, egg-free garlic aioli, spicy gochujang aioli, or a drizzle of hot honey sauce).
Ingredients
- 1lb (500g) sausages, ideally good quality and free-range
- 3.5oz (100g) fresh breadcrumbs (roughly 2 slices of sourdough bread)
- 1/2 cup pecans
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 tablespoon za’atar
- 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
- Handful of sage leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients. Heat your oven to 350°F (180°C fan) and line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Roughly chop the pecans, cranberries, and flat-leaf parsley. You can either finely chop up or tear the bread slices, or tear them roughly, then throw them into the bowl of a food processor and blitz a couple of times to break them up into chunky breadcrumbs.
- Make the stuffing mix. Get a large mixing bowl ready, cut through the sausage skin, and squeeze the meat into the bowl. Add the chopped pecans, cranberries, flat-leaf parsley, breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon of za’atar, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the egg. Mix everything really well with a large wooden spoon (or get your hands in there!) so that everything is combined.
- Form the stuffing balls. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of the mixture into your hands, then roll it into a ball a little smaller than a golf ball. Place on the prepared oven tray, then repeat with the rest of the mixture. You should get about 20 stuffing balls.
- Bake or air fry the stuffing balls. Transfer the tray to the oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes (check on them after 20 minutes), until the balls look golden brown. Or, transfer the stuffing balls to the basket of your air fryer, and air fry for 11 minutes at 400°F (200°C). Remove from the oven, transfer to a serving platter, and enjoy.
Notes
PREP AHEAD: You can roll the balls up to 3 days ahead of time and then just bake them when you’re ready. Store the uncooked balls in airtight containers in the fridge.
SUBSTITUTIONS: Swap the cranberries for chopped dried apricots, or switch out the pecans for almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts or hazelnuts. Swap the flat-leaf parsley for sage, thyme, rosemary or oregano. If you can’t find za’atar, used dried thyme, sage or oregano.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: These are lovely served with a drizzle of hot honey sauce, and served with cranberry sauce or your favorite relish – this fig and tamarind chutney works really well. Sweet chili jam is also great with them, as is spicy gochujang aioli.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: sides
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 balls
- Calories: 260
- Sugar: 0.5g
- Sodium: 656mg
- Fat: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 6.1g
- Carbohydrates: 2g
- Fiber: 0.8g
- Protein: 13.1g
- Cholesterol: 64mg
